First time buying a detector!

[noz03]

Hey guys, Im COMPLETELY new here and to this hobby, but some friends of mine have convinced me to join up with them on and check out some very interesting tip-offs they got. So, we are planning to buy our first metal detector

I read a few articles and spent a bit of time on ebay so I know how complicated it actually is, and how important it is to get the right machine for the job.. and Im hoping maybe some of the pros here can help.

We will be looking for all metals of all sizes and shapes, and everything from gold to antiques. We think the stuff could be buried up to 3 meters down, and at least a layer of concrete as well. So Im not sure how deep most machines can detect but the deeper the better, and Im guessing we will need several different coils as well. But luckily our budget is quite flexible, however much it costs to get a very high quality machine for our job we will be willing to pay (within reason haha). Ill say between 1000-3000usd.

So what do you guys think? What machine would be good for us? What kind of coils? And of course, where is a good place to buy? Im located in Europe btw.

Thanks a lot!
-Noz

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[norbyx]

Men If you want go go 3 meters down with it than your $3000 is a bit short.
A good metal detector for deep finds is the blisstool. But it won't get anywere close to 3 meters deep. Now there are other specialized metal detectors that will go there like the SSP-3100 discriminator that is a PI machine. If you want to go even deeper than you would need a ground penetrating radar. There is a guy near me that is selling one used for $3500 but new they go for $11.000+.
You need to read a lot before you get yourself the right tool for the job.

[noz03]

Hmm, from what I heard it all depends on the size of the object. Of course Im not expecting to find a single coin 3m down, but maybe a small metal box for example, or a collection of coins. I read on one reasonably priced detector that it can find a car sized object up to 8m underground, donno what the hell a car would be doing down there but anyway

How deep do you think 3000usd could get us using the ideal settings and coils on lets say a jar of coins?

[norbyx]

My advise is that you start looking at some videos on YouTube so you have an idea. First you need to understand that an item that is 8 meters down will need heavy machinery to dig. Second there is no such thing as a metal detector detecting a small box or a big box that deep, not even of it was the size of a washing machine. Now maybe a double box detector could help you find something deeper but I don't think it can find things that deep.

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[Landlord Jim]

Two to look at are the Whites MXT Pro with the 300 mm coil or for the deep big stuff the Whites TM 808.

[noz03]

Hmm, I took a little look at some youtube videos but didnt find much. Anyway, I found a few models that MIGHT be what Im looking for. First one seems to be able to do what I want at quite reasonable depth, trying to work out how deep it ACTUALLY can detect is proving difficult though Ive heard people have tested it at 30inches.
-Jeotech Deep Seeking LED Treasure Hunter metal detector | eBay

Then there are 2 others that seem to be somewhat different from usual detectors, I cant quite work out exactly what they are but they say they detect metals very very deep underground, is one of these possibly what I want? The thing is, I ALSO want to detect things that arnt so deep as well, and have a decent amount of accuracy, I get the feeling these are great for finding huge objects 5m down, but completely useless at finding small objects close to the surface. But I really donno, anyway, these at the 2 strange looking things...
-MODEL 20 LONG RANGE GOLD & SILVER LOCATOR METAL DETECTOR GPX VERY VERY DEEP | eBay
-New Fisher Gemini-3 20' DEEP Metal Detector Detects All Metals Gold 5 Yr WRNTY | eBay

[cudamark]

Sounds like you have more than one person in this purchase. With that budget, why not get two detectors. I'd go with a White's TM 808 for the big deep stuff and a Minelab E-trac or Whites V3i for everything else. There are aftermarket coils for both of those models for a variety of depth needs.

[noz03]

Hmm, so after all my research I am thinking I will reduce the depth that we need to go, and maybe get something like the TM808 later on. My friend said lets learn to walk before we can run and I agree

I would still like to get a machine that has quite good depth though, and also good for shallower smaller objects. Actually the main place we are planning to use it is in buildings and building sites (strange I know). Actually we are real estate agents and have access to a lot of areas that extremely valuable items have been buried inside the city. Dont worry, this is all totally legal btw

Would an etrac or v3i work for this kind of job? I would like my first machine to be able to detect a 6" object up to 1 meter deep with the correct attachments and also detect smaller objects at 10" and less. Decent metal discrimination would also be very useful as there's likely to be some plumbing in the same areas. Also, would the detector already come with the attachments for deeper searching or would I need to purchase them separately?

Thanks again to everyone so far

[norbyx]

My advise ... Buy a Blisstool LTC 64X V3, that is a deep detector, it has discrimination and it can find objects deeper than the etrack or the V3i. You can buy it with the 2 coils so you will be able to do some really deep detecting as well. Price should be arround 700 Euros. Probably the best detector you can get for your kind of requirements.

[bosco]

Just buy an Etrac...you'll be happy with it.

[cudamark]

Good luck hunting inside a building....that's not easy at all unless it's so old it doesn't have wiring, plumbing, metal hardware and fasteners, etc. Maybe a log cabin or a mud hut is searchable but a modern house is not something I'd want to hunt.

[noz03]

Good luck hunting inside a building....that's not easy at all unless it's so old it doesn't have wiring, plumbing, metal hardware and fasteners, etc. Maybe a log cabin or a mud hut is searchable but a modern house is not something I'd want to hunt.

Yes you are definitely right. The houses will be unused for more than 50 years but I'm sure there will be a lot of junk metal, plumbing and so on down there. Also we will probably have to dig through concrete so its not going to be easy at all! Is there anything I can do to make it as easy as possible? Maybe using hightech meta descrimination or so on?

[inspectorgadget]

Holy cow, detecting & digging up concrete in an old basement for quite possibly just trash, no thanks! But good luck on your endeavor I wish you well!

[bosco]

All of this for scrap metal? So you have any reason to believe you might find anything under all of that concrete...besides dirt?

[cudamark]

Have these houses been domolished or bulldozed? If so, you can start by physically removing the big stuff so it's not in the way of swinging the coil. Obvious junk metal would be next to pick up and move out of the hunting area. Unless you have good reason to believe there are some good coins or relics in the debris, I think you're in for a disappointing time. Unless it's a fresh demo where you can rake all the surface junk off and pick up all the nails with a magnet sweeper, there are just too many iron, wiring, and plumbing targets under the surface to make it worthwhile. If these are standing houses, I wouldn't break up any concrete or knock out any walls or the whole place might come down on your head! Unless there was a dirt floor structure before the concrete one, there won't be anything under it.

[noz03]

Have these houses been domolished or bulldozed? If so, you can start by physically removing the big stuff so it's not in the way of swinging the coil. Obvious junk metal would be next to pick up and move out of the hunting area. Unless you have good reason to believe there are some good coins or relics in the debris, I think you're in for a disappointing time. Unless it's a fresh demo where you can rake all the surface junk off and pick up all the nails with a magnet sweeper, there are just too many iron, wiring, and plumbing targets under the surface to make it worthwhile. If these are standing houses, I wouldn't break up any concrete or knock out any walls or the whole place might come down on your head! Unless there was a dirt floor structure before the concrete one, there won't be anything under it.

No they wont be piles of rubble, maybe demolished but with the foundations of the old house intact and cleaned up. Actually we and some friends have already made some nice finds and we have very good information where to look, also there isnt any underground wiring and so on, maybe pluming but that would be it. Also there will be a lot of rubbish but I guess theres not much we can do to work tell that apart from the stuff we want. Actually the main thing we want to find is literally treasure that people have hidden around 100 years ago. If we do make the find we are hoping will pay our detectors price 10x over.

[ticm]

I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you to buy a detector with a high resale value.

[Ism]

Depending on your particular needs, you might look into a non-motion PI. You will be able to easily tell if an object is long and thin like a pipe or smaller blunt object like a box. While a motion detector can do the same thing, its really much easier with non-motion. You can make or have a large coil made to give it more depth or use a smaller coil for working tight areas with decent depth.

A Whites TDI (motion PI unit) can give you a high/low conductor discrimination. Large iron, copper, gold, silver, will come in as high conductor while small iron, aluminum, small lead, small gold will come in as low conductor. Or you can just use it as a standard PI unit by switching it to all-metal. Large coils can be made for the TDI as well. If the foundations are reinforced with re-rod or iron mesh, then you are out of luck with any detector finding anything underneath. With the 12" coil I can detect a car from almost 2 meters to give you an idea of its potential.

If you need to disc out iron, remember all detectors have trouble with large iron and VLF detectors generally see large iron as a smaller good target. PI detectors give you raw depth in bad soil conditions.

Good luck

[pelestaribudaya]

I believed there is no such Metal detector device able to do all of Detecting needs perfectly. You will need several device to suited every specific hunting situation.
My self using:
-Fisher CZ7a Pro (my best VLF unit..periode) for coin hunt >>>with the best result
-Whites TM 808 for relic and cache hunting that cover large area, even you can operate this machine while running...>>> which Turned My House A Museum (for real )
-Whites TDI ( NEVER LIE DETECTOR)for Beach hunt >>>that cut the black sand like butter (Fisher CZ cannot) and Prospecting >>> result of 157 grams Gold ore/specimens in second day hunt, TDI very affordable than Minelab GPX series.

But make sure you have enough GOOD PLACE to hunt, CALORIES to burn and TIME to spent..BY OWNED ALL OF THOSE MACHINE.

Happy Hunting. BBW